Though my grandmother was dismissive, I admired the way the grand-uncle existed. Living off the land was something so far different from what I’d ever known that I had all these romantic notions about it, that is, until I had to get my own hands dirty. Even so, I found physical work was something I enjoyed. This grand-uncle by double adoption, once he saw that I was willing and eager to learn, seemed happy to have my company and my assistance. I was delighted and proud that he saw fit not to speak English to me.

One day I found him far along the bush tracks where he had set his hīnaki in a dark part of the creek. He was waiting for me because the trap was so full of eels that he needed help to pull it out on to the bank. We cut some of the eels down from head to tail and opened them out. Aki lit a fire in his smoke drum and hung them inside it. We spent the remainder of the day delivering the rest of the eels to various families – all of whom it seemed were related to him, and me. There were those who had grown up with my mother and had stories to tell. It was an exciting day for me, the first of many.

On arriving back at the house I lit the kitchen fire and put water on to boil for making tea, not thinking that there would be any recording done that day, but Aki sat down at the table where I had left the recorder, pressed the button and began.

Chapter 13

Aki

I’m going to talk about letters. Six months after Pearl Harbor was bombed I came home to find a note from Oriwia waiting for me. It told me that Chappy had gone away and had made no contact with them. He’d taken fright after learning that Britain and America were at war with Japan. She believed he was afraid of being arrested and put on Somes Island like Harry Krauss and his sons.

The silly fool. I thought of all the places he could have hidden and been safe: on the farm, in the bush, even as far as the foot of the ranges. Not even the people of the town would have had any idea where he was. As Oriwia went on to say, there was no one looking for him anyway. And what if he was picked up? Mrs Krauss and Dulcie had heard from Harry, and it seemed Somes wasn’t such a bad place. Meals were good and prisoners were well treated. After the war they’d all be home to pick up their lives again.